This is how Pranab worships Ma Durga

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is known as a man of all seasons, a man of punctuality and precision. He is also the Congress's troubleshooter.

On Thursday, however, the finance minister was in a new avatar, donning the priest's mantle at his ancestral home at Miriti, his ancestral village near Kirnahar in Birbhum district, about 250 km from Kolkata.

He worshipped Goddess Durga at his ancestral home in Mirati village on 'Mahasaptami', the first day of the four-day long puja.

Mukherjee's grandfather, late Jangaleswar Mukherjee, started the puja, which is almost 100 years old. Mukherjee's father, Kamadakinkar, continued the tradition and now the onus is on the finance minister to keep the practice alive.

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As the priest performed puja and aarti, Mukherjee did Chondipath before the idol.

The finance minister later attended a credit disbursal programme organised by Corporation Bank and micro-finance organisation Bandhan at his village.

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Finance Minister's Puja is one of the main attractions of his native Miriti village, about 250 km from Kolkata.

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Dhakis ring in the festive spirit in and aorund West Bengal.

The beats of dhak salute Ma Durga and celebrate her four-day stay on Earth.

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"Whoever visits our place, journalists and others, must have lunch with us," Mukherjee's son Abhijit told rediff.com on Thursday.

In fact, he was personally supervising the lunch.

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For the four days of Durga Puja, nothing can come between devoted 'Poltu', Mukherjee's nick name, and his ancestral home in village Kirnahar in West Bengal.

Not only Mukherjee performs the Puja himself, reading out the Chandi shlokas, but also meets friends and relatives, who all come over for the four days of fun.

This year, Mukherjee had to curtail his US trip to join his friends and relatives at Kirnahar during the Puja. Mukherjee was in the United States recently to attend the IMF-World Bank meeting.